After the Ukrainian activist group Femen disrupted voting at the Moscow polling station where Vladimir Putin cast his ballot on Sunday, Russia’s Federal Migration Service is considering declaring them personae non grata.

­Three Ukrainian women posing as reporters entered the polling
station, approached the ballot boxes, and then abruptly stripped
to the waist.

The topless activists, their chests emblazoned with anti-Putin
messages, chanted obscene slogans and lunged at the ballot box
just 20 minutes after the premier left the building.

The Femen members then made an apparent attempt to steal the
electronic box in which the presidential frontrunner had just
cast his ballot, disconnecting it. The local election committee
later took the decision to replace the device.

The activists had the slogan “I steal for Putin” scrawled on
their torsos – an apparent satire on the slogan “Tear to shreds
for Putin”, used by
pro-government movements which have sought to exploit the
sexuality of their female activists to whip up support for the
Russian leader.

A Moscow court sentenced the women to administrative detention
with the offenders getting terms of 5, 10 and 12 days behind
bars.

If the Federal Migration Service decides that the presence of
FEMEN activists in Russia is undesirable, the Ukrainians will be
expelled and might be barred from entering the country in the
future.

Reuters / Denis Sinyakov

Police detained the activists shortly after they dropped their
coats.

Reuters / Denis Sinyakov

Femen is known for their flashy, politically-loaded displays.
They started off protesting against sex tourism in Ukraine, but
quickly broadened their range of issues to embrace a host of hot
topics, from Ukraine’s gas
deals with Russia to Belarus’ bid
to host the ice hockey world championship.